More B.C. parents opting for private schools: Report

Families are increasingly looking beyond the public school system, suggests a Fraser Institute report looking at student enrolment in Canada. Getty Images/iStockphoto

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More B.C. parents are choosing private schools over the public school system, with the province having the highest share of students enrolled in independent schools in Canada, according to a new study.

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The Fraser Institute report, released earlier this week, found that over the past 2½ decades the share of B.C. students attending public schools has fallen from 90.7 per cent of all students to 86.2 per cent — a decline of 4½ per cent, the largest in the country.

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“Every province has seen a decline in the proportion of students enrolled in the public system from 2000-01 to 2023-24,” said the report, with B.C. and Alberta recording the largest drops. “The general reduction in public school enrolment has been met both with increased enrolment in independent schools and with a larger share of families choosing to home-school their children.”

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The trend is reflected across the country.

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In B.C., the proportion of students attending independent schools — which includes elite private schools, faith-based schools and schools serving students with special needs — grew from 8.7 per cent to 13.2 per cent, the highest in Canada.

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Across Canada, enrolment at independent schools grew as a share of total enrolment, says the Fraser Institute report. Photo by Fraser Institute

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Quebec was second at 11.9 per cent followed by Manitoba at 8.7 per cent.

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In absolute numbers, the number of students enrolled in independent schools in B.C. grew by nearly 54 per cent, reaching about 91,700 students in 2023-24.

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The increase is a positive indication that B.C. parents have choices when it comes to the education their child receives, said Shawn Chisholm, president of the Federation of Independent School Associations of B.C. The organization represents 298 independent schools in the province.

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“We don’t look at it as a competition,” he said. “We’re an independent school sector and there’s the public school sector, but we are all part of the K-12 system. We see our relationship as complementary.”

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Chisholm noted the vast majority of B.C. students are in the public school system, which he described as “world-class.”

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Since 1977, B.C. has partly funded independent schools, which receive either 50 per cent or 35 per cent of the per-student operating funding provided to local public schools. Over the years, there have been calls to scrap the funding, but Chisholm said doing so would cost the province more.

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“There’s a benefit to taxpayers as they only partly fund students that go to independent schools,” he said, adding that independent schools don’t receive government funding for capital projects. “Independent schools finance that through their families and communities. That’s not a draw to the treasury.”

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Many schools also charge relatively low tuition to ensure their schools are accessible to families, said Chisholm.

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Currently, B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec provide partial government funding for independent schools; Ontario and the Atlantic provinces do not.